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All about the life and career of the ageless actor Tom Cruise. 

Cruising Altitude

Pop Culture

Tom Cruise has been <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/80s-heartthrob-facts-whoa/olivia-pasquarelli">one of the top movie stars</a> in the world for decades. There is a lot that is known about the soon-to-be 60-year-old actor, such as his three marriages and divorces to well-known actresses and his devotion to Scientology.But there are a lot of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-tom-cruise-stories/tracey-graham">facts and stories</a> about Cruise that may not be as well known, such as the fact that he was a real-life hero not once but twice in 1996, coming to the aid of a woman who was hit by a car and a group of people stuck on a burning yacht. Or that his iconic dance scene in Risky Business helped to boost the sales of Ray-Bans. Or that a talk-show appearance by Cruise was the model for Christian Bale's performance in American Psycho.Hopefully, these stories will give readers more insight into Tom Cruise.

13 Wild Facts We Never Knew About Tom Cruise

General

Wild Facts We Never Knew About Tom Cruise

TGWrites

Old Stuff

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.renolon.com/money-spent-on-fast-food-statistics/">Fast food is big business</a>; Americans spend an estimated $200 billion per year on it, and internationally the fast food market value is around $930 billion. Chains such as McDonald's, KFC, Jack in the Box, and Subway have huge name recognition not just in the US, but all over the world.But who are the individuals who founded some of the world's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/fast-food-to-eat-every-day-big-mac-taco-bell/dave-schilling">most iconic fast-food brands</a>, and how did they come up with the idea of venturing into this competitive industry? Some, like Subway's cofounder, were still in their teens when they opened their first restaurant. Others landed in the food industry only after working in others.&nbsp;A handful of these classic businesses are still owned by family members of the original founder/s. Others were sold off long ago. And some founders, like the McDonald brothers, had to fight to keep their legacy from being erased.Below are stories of how some of the most famous fast food chains were born - vote up the best!

Things We Just Learned About Fast Food Pioneers That Made Us Hungry For More

Company

Comedy TV

Many actors have gotten their first big break by taking a guest spot on a television series. But another established tradition is the one of famous actors and other celebrities agreeing to make guest appearances.&nbsp;Friends,&nbsp;The Simpsons,&nbsp;and&nbsp;That '70s Show&nbsp;are just a few of the shows that have been able to boast of snagging multiple stars for guest roles.&nbsp;Although the majority of these guest appearances have been one-offs, there have been a few, such as Mary Tyler Moore's three-episode arc on&nbsp;That '70s Show, that were expanded beyond one episode. And occasionally, as with Jean Stapleton's performance as Brett Butler's eccentric aunt on&nbsp;Grace Under Fire, these roles have earned the guest star an Emmy nomination.Here are some of the more notable celebrities who one might be surprised to learn appeared as guest stars on television comedies.

The Most Overqualified Guest Star Performances On Sitcoms

Actor

The Most Overqualified Guest Star Performances On 90s Sitcoms

In front of the live studio audience, everything was all punchlines and pratfalls — but when the cameras were off, dark and messy things took place on the sets of the TV comedies America never missed.

Behind the Laugh Tracks

Watchworthy

Although not as common in recent years, “very special episodes” used to be a staple of television series - especially sitcoms. The phrase is a term used in promos to describe episodes that dealt with difficult or controversial topics like drugs, underage sex, drinking, child abuse, and death.Although there were “very special episodes” of TV shows prior to the 1980s, that decade is thought to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/arts/television-radio-reruns-when-episodes-could-still-be-very-special.html">the peak</a> of their production.Here are some of the more memorable “very special episodes” of American sitcoms that have aired over the past 50 years.

Behind-The-Scenes Stories About TV's Most Famous 'Very Special Episodes'

TV Program

Firsthand Accounts

Tom Cruise has been one of the biggest movie stars in the world for more than 30 years. From his star-making role in 1983's Risky Business to his more recent films like 2018's Mission: Impossible - Fallout, the actor has worked with hundreds, if not thousands, of producers, directors, writers, co-stars, and crew members.&nbsp;And, as has been the case with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-talk-about-nicolas-cage/pierce-nahigyan">other famous actors</a>, many people have told their stories about what it was like to work and/or just hang out with Cruise. Perhaps not surprisingly given the length of his career, some people have had very positive experiences dealing with the actor, while others have not.Below are just some of those stories about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/tom-cruise-over-the-top-role/melissa-sartore">dealing with Tom Cruise</a> on and off the set.

What People Who Know Tom Cruise Had To Say About Him

Person

What Tom Cruise's Costars Had To Say About Him

Consumers would <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/companies-that-survived-scandals/will-morgan-1">like to believe the products they buy are safe</a>. But as voluntary or forced recalls of countless products have proven over the years, even the most innocuous-looking items can have hidden dangers. Some are the result of negligence&nbsp;(e.g., <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/exploding-ford-pinto/tracey-graham">exploding Ford Pintos</a>) or deliberate intent (e.g., the Tylenol and Excedrin poisonings), while others occur despite the manufacturer implementing safety precautions.And some products, like the tainted infant formula in China or the morning sickness remedy thalidomide, can have horrifying consequences that last long after the products are pulled from circulation. Many items - from toys that pose suffocation hazards to furniture that tips easily -&nbsp;can be especially dangerous to small children.When a product recall goes public, it can frighten&nbsp;or panic consumers. The items below are some of the scarier recalls in recent history.

Product Recalls Throughout History That Straight Up Scared Us

Looking at standout roles, unforgettable performances, and behind-the-scenes drama of famous and forgotten actors.

Casting Calls

One of the most famous stories about how a famous actor got discovered or landed their first break is the one about Lana Turner supposedly being spotted sitting on a stool at Schwab&#39;s drugstore. And while&nbsp;that story&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-10-07-me-3518-story.html" target="_blank">may not actually be true</a>&nbsp;(instead, she supposedly was discovered at a malt shop across from Hollywood High School), it still illustrates the idea being in the right place at the right time can propel an actor&#39;s career. Even if, in some cases, the person may not have even been thinking of becoming an actor at the time of the&nbsp;lucky break.

From being spotted drunkenly dancing in a store to arguing with a bank teller to getting a call out of the blue from a famous actor who was a fan of their previous work, each of the actors listed below either was &quot;discovered&quot; or got an early break in their career in an unusual way.

Actors Who Were In The Right Place At The Right Time

Actors Share Their Luckiest 'Right Place At The Right Time' Stories

Showbiz

Working on&nbsp;a hit television series as an actor has its perks, such as&nbsp;steady work, great pay, award nominations, media attention, and other <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/actors-who-bet-on-themselves/anncasano" target="_blank">acting opportunities</a>.&nbsp;The downsides, however, include being typecast&nbsp;or missing out on other acting projects due to contractual&nbsp;ties&nbsp;to a series. And sometimes, the show or character grows stale.&nbsp;

The stories here describe some of the ways actors have&nbsp;felt &quot;stuck&quot; playing characters on a long-running TV series.

Actors Talk About Feeling Trapped By A Role On Successful TV Shows

Actors Who Hated Being On Long-Running TV Shows

Trending on Ranker

In many television shows, the location can play as big of a role as the characters do. This is especially true when the series is set in a real&nbsp;place. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/extremely-detailed-television-shows/nathan-gibson" target="_blank">more details</a>&nbsp;used about the lifestyle, culture, or favorite hangouts of the locals, the more accurate the show&#39;s setting is going to feel.

Many series are filmed in the actual location where the show is set. When that&#39;s the case,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/tv-home-values-today/michael-muir" target="_blank">private homes</a>&nbsp;and businesses in the area can be used not just as background scenery, but as ways to develop a character or act as the location for a key scene.

From the poverty- and crime-stricken area of&nbsp;The Wire&#39;s&nbsp;West Baltimore to the sunny beaches and substance-fueled club culture of White Lines&#39;s&nbsp;Ibiza, Spain,&nbsp;here are a dozen television shows that have done an excellent job of portraying the scenery and way of life in their real-life locales.

12 TV Shows That Perfectly Capture Their Real-Life Settings

TV Shows That Perfectly Capture Their Real Life Settings

Entertainment

While movie audiences may love to root for the hero, many actors have built <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/80s-90s-actors-who-always-play-bad-guys/mike-mcgranaghan" target="_blank">successful careers</a>&nbsp;by playing the&nbsp;bad guy. Villains can be more complex -&nbsp;or more challenging - than protagonists. Sometimes, they are just more fun! This list sheds light on some of the reasons actors who typically play more sympathetic roles <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/actors-you-forgot-played-bad-guys/orrin-grey" target="_blank">have decided</a>&nbsp;to play villains.

Bad guy roles tend to be less age-specific than &quot;hero&quot; parts,&nbsp;which allows an actor to <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/80s-90s-actors-who-always-play-bad-guys/mike-mcgranaghan?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">play bad guy</a> roles when they might be thought of as &quot;too old&quot; to play the hero. Indeed, all of the actors listed below have been playing villains and antagonists since the &#39;90s -&nbsp;and some of them for even longer than that.

Of course,&nbsp;these on-screen villains have their own unique backstories in terms of their career paths;&nbsp;for example, both Alan Rickman and Charles Dance originally planned to be graphic designers, while a near-fatal boating accident prompted Robert Patrick to quit his job and head for Hollywood. And as&nbsp;John Malkovich&nbsp;showed, even a movie bad guy can be a real-life hero.

Read on to learn some behind-the-scenes stories about actors who have played memorable bad guys.

Surprisingly Interesting Stories About Actors Who Played '90s Villains

Interesting Stories About ‘90s Villain Actors

Think the whole world revolves around you? Read about some Very Important Historical Figures and the fascinating lives they led while changing the world and having no idea that you even exist.

People of the Past

Over the course of history, many scientific and medical&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-crazy-historic-theories/ivey-nucilli" target="_blank">discoveries</a>&nbsp;have been ignored, mocked, or met with open hostility. A physician was thought to have lost his mind when he theorized that medical personnel simply washing their hands before examining pregnant patients greatly reduced the chances of the patients dying of childbed fever; he eventually was confined to a mental institution. The British explorer who discovered that members of a lost expedition may have resorted to cannibalism in a failed attempt to survive became the victim of a vicious smear campaign that damaged his reputation and may have cost him a knighthood. Both men&#39;s theories turned out to be spot-on.

Of course, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mysterious-ancient-scientific-discoveries-and-inventions/kellen-perry" target="_blank">scientific discoveries</a> aren&#39;t the only things that can struggle to find wide acceptance. So can speaking out about controversial topics.&nbsp;Sin&eacute;ad O&#39;Connor learned this when she received major backlash&nbsp;after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II during an appearance on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-shocking-snl-moments/best-of-snl" target="_blank">Saturday Night Live</a>; the singer was attempting&nbsp;to expose the Catholic Church&#39;s complicity in covering up child sexual abuse being committed by some priests. Corey Feldman, meanwhile, was accused of trying to destroy an&nbsp;entire industry when he spoke out about how he and other child actors had been abused. And no one believed Greg LeMond when he accused fellow cyclist Lance Armstrong - regarded by many as a hero - of doping. Again, all of these allegations eventually proved to be true.

Below are some of the more memorable times when people who were originally mocked, ignored, or called out turned out to be correct about what they claimed.

People The World Mocked Who Turned Out To Be Right

People Who Were Mocked That Turned Out To Be Right

Sitcoms

Fictional family units have been a staple on television series since the very beginning of the television industry. This is especially true in sitcoms - from the Ricardos&nbsp;(I Love Lucy)&nbsp;and the Andersons&nbsp;(Father Knows Best) in the 1950s to the Pritchetts, Dunphys, and Tucker-Pritchetts&nbsp;(Modern Family)&nbsp;in the 21st century, audiences have always enjoyed shows that revolve around a &quot;family.&quot; And while some television families are quirkier or more dysfunctional than others, in order to have a successful series run, they must all be relatable in some way.

Behind the scenes, television families aren&#39;t much different than real ones when it comes to dealing with the ups and downs&nbsp;in their relationships. Some actors develop such close relationships that they end up considering each other to be &quot;like family.&quot; Others may take longer to build a good relationship - if they ever do. And sometimes real life intrudes onto the set, for good or bad.

Here are some behind-the-scenes stories from some of the more popular family-centric sitcoms of the past 50 years.

Surprisingly Interesting Stories About TV Sitcom Families

Behind-The-Scenes Stories About TV Sitcom Families

Film Trivia

From the earliest days of the film industry, historical events have been&nbsp;an excellent source for movies that capture the audience&#39;s attention and interest. One genre filmmakers seem especially drawn to is the courtroom drama&nbsp;- perhaps because the stakes are often very high when a person takes on the legal system.

But when it comes to making projects about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/inaccurate-movies-based-on-true-stories/megan-summers" target="_blank">real-life</a>&nbsp;individuals or events,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-historically-inaccurate-movies/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">historical accuracy</a>&nbsp;can go out the window. Sometimes, this is due to a lack of trustworthy source material; if no verified records or eyewitness accounts exist, filmmakers may have to fill in the gaps. Other times, they might make up fictional or composite characters, change the timeline of events, or leave out facts - all in the name of dramatic license.

When it comes to movies about legal cases, dramatic license often comes into play. Let&#39;s face it -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/ways-real-life-courts-and-legal-systems-arent-like-in-movies/jason-robbins" target="_blank">real court cases</a>&nbsp;tend to be a lot duller than how they are portrayed on-screen.

What 14 Movies Involving Real Court Cases Got Wrong

Film

Historical Court Cases Movies Get Wrong

Whoa Facts

As of 2020, it was believed&nbsp;more than <a href="https://www.theintrepidguide.com/how-many-languages-are-there-in-the-world/" target="_blank">7,000</a>&nbsp;different languages were spoken by people around the world. Many of those languages have multiple dialects and/or accents associated with them. Some of these accents and dialects are used by many thousands of people, while others, like the Ocracoke brogue or the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/tangier-virginia-accent-and-facts/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Tangier Island</a>&nbsp;dialect, are in danger of dying off.

And although research has shown it is very hard for a person to get rid of the accent&nbsp; they developed from a very young age, it is possible to learn a different accent such as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-is-katharine-hepburn-accent/erin-mccann" target="_blank">Mid-Atlantic accent</a> used by many actors in the Golden Age of Hollywood or the pirate accent popularized by the actor Robert Newton.

Below are more unique facts about how accents and dialects come into existence and how they can shape our beliefs and culture.

12 Facts We Just Learned About Accents And Dialects

Facts About Accents And Dialects

History

In cities all over the world,&nbsp;there are neighborhoods that are &quot;hidden,&quot; literally or figuratively. Some of them&nbsp;are blatantly ignored by their own government; the&nbsp;Kamagasaki district in Osaka, Japan, isn&#39;t even included on official maps of the city;&nbsp;while for years the government in Caracas, Venezuela, turned a blind eye&nbsp;to the fact that thousands of squatters were living in an abandoned,&nbsp;partially built high-rise nicknamed the &quot;Tower of David.&quot;

Others - like Ras Khamis in Jerusalem, the artificial island of Dejima located in Nagasaki, and Venice&#39;s Jewish Quarter -&nbsp;were physically cut off from the rest of their respective cities in order to segregate and control a specific segment of the population. One (<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-vatican-facts/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">Vatican City</a>) even eventually became an independent country.

Many of these &quot;hidden&quot; cities are known for their crowded living quarters, poverty, and crime. But a much more positive thing also existed in many of these districts - a true sense of community.

10 Cities Within Cities That Became Their Own Hidden Worlds

10 Hidden Cities That Emerged Within Well Known Cities

They pillage and plunder; they rifle and loot. Drink up, ye 'earties. Yo ho!

A Pirate's Life for Me

Pirates

The seafaring criminals known as pirates have existed for thousands of years. But because of the portrayals found in literature -&nbsp;or seen in films, TV shows, or on stage -&nbsp;much of what the general public thinks about pirates is likely&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historically-inaccurate-pirate-tropes/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">historically inaccurate</a>.&nbsp;

Take&nbsp;for instance&nbsp;the pirate accent. Many believe the origin of the stereotypical pirate language&nbsp;is Robert Newton&#39;s portrayal of the fictional pirate Long John Silver in the 1950 film&nbsp;Treasure Island. Since both Robert Louis Stevenson&#39;s character and Newton himself were from the West Country region of England, the actor decided it would make sense to use&nbsp;an exaggerated version of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/til-accent-dialect-facts/tracey-graham" target="_blank">his natural accent</a> in his portrayal. And in the 70-plus years since then, a variation of Newton&#39;s accent has been used in many portrayals of pirates.

But while there were real-life pirates who came from England&#39;s West Country, there were also ones who came from other parts of the world, including non-English-speaking nations. Not to mention they didn&#39;t all come from the same societal class, nor did they all have the same level of education. So it&#39;s likely real-life pirates&#39; accents and way of speaking was far broader in scope than the portrayals in literature and the performing arts tend to suggest.

The Actual Reasons Why Pirates Have That Distinct ‘Pirate’ Accent

Where Does The Pirate Accent Come From

Fun and very interesting lists about slang, vocabulary, language, spelling, and even punctuation.

Words, Words, Words

The United States is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world; as of 2020, it was estimated that between 350 and 430 different <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-language-to-learn/jennifer-lee" target="_blank">languages</a>&nbsp;are spoken in the nation. English is the most widely spoken, followed by Spanish.

But there are also dialects that are spoken by a much smaller number of people who reside in specific parts of the US. These <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/til-accent-dialect-facts/tracey-graham" target="_blank">lesser-known dialects</a> include the brogue spoken by the residents of Ocracoke Island in North Carolina&#39;s Outer Banks region, the Cajun French of Louisiana, and the pidgin that was developed by people who came to the Hawaiian Islands to work on the sugar plantations.&nbsp;

Some of these dialects, like the mixture of colonial-era British English and Tidewater spoken by some of the residents of Tangier Island in Virginia or the Boontling heard in the Northern California community of Boonville, are in danger of dying off, as younger generations haven&#39;t been taught the language. But there is hope that these, as well as many of the other lesser-known dialects spoken by residents of the US,&nbsp;can be preserved - and possibly even revived - before it&#39;s too late.

12 Unique Accents And Dialects You Can Only Find In Specific Places In the United States

Accents And Dialects You Can Only Find In Specific Places In the United States

Looking closer at the fascinating early days in old Hollywood and ranking the top films of the golden age of cinema.

Glitz and Glamour

Old Hollywood

Since the very early days of Hollywood, fans and the press have been obsessed with following the lives of the stars. The first true Hollywood&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-power-couples/elle-tharp" target="_blank">power couple</a>&nbsp;was probably Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, who were mobbed by the media and fans alike on their honeymoon in 1920. The Pickford-Fairbanks romance was considered&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/forgotten-old-hollywood-scandals/thaneeconomou" target="_blank">scandalous</a>, as both stars were married when they first became involved; in fact, the state of Nevada tried to claim that Pickford&#39;s divorce from first husband Owen Moore was invalid. But the fans didn&#39;t seem to care; they just wanted to learn&nbsp;about the&nbsp;<a href="http://https://www.ranker.com/list/what-old-hollywood-stars-were-like/ivey-nucilli" target="_blank">stars&#39; lives</a>&nbsp;- what were they like?

In the 21st century, a lot of information about&nbsp;the lives of the rich and/or famous (or infamous) is found and shared on social media. But during Hollywood&#39;s &quot;Golden Age,&quot; people turned to magazines like&nbsp;Photoplay&nbsp;and scandal rags like&nbsp;Confidential&nbsp;(which <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123584348#:~:text=The%20subhead%20of%20Confidential%20%E2%80%94%20%22names,new%20book%2C%20Shocking%20True%20Story." target="_blank">NPR</a>&nbsp;called &quot;the National Enquirer of the 1950s&quot;) to get the scoop on famous couples like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, William Powell and Jean Harlow, or Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall - stories like some of the ones found below.

Facts About Old Hollywood Power Couples That Reveal What They Were Really Like

Facts About Old Hollywood Power Couples We Just Learned

Television drama series in the 1980s were very diverse in genre, style, and subject matter, ranging from nighttime soap operas involving families fighting over control of an oil empire (Dallas)&nbsp;to comedy-dramas set on a cruise ship where the passengers - and crew - were all searching for romance (The Love Boat). Several series featured scientists as lead characters - whether they were involuntarily traveling through time (Quantum Leap), trying to avoid turning into a green-skinned monster (The Incredible Hulk), or using their brains and ingenuity to devise contraptions that could help them escape even the worst jams (MacGyver).&nbsp;If a viewer wanted to see a nostalgic coming-of-age show set in the 1960s, ABC had them covered&nbsp;(The Wonder Years). Fans of detective and police shows were especially lucky in the 1980s, as crimes were being investigated and solved by everyone from cops who looked young enough to pose as teens (21 Jump Street) to widowed, middle-aged novelists&nbsp;(Murder, She Wrote).

Like the shows they appeared in, the stars ranged in age and experience.&nbsp;There were child actors&nbsp;and <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/former-child-actors-who-spoke-out/rydavis?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">former child actors</a>. Respected stage actors and struggling actors just looking for a break. Even Oscar and Tony Award winners. But no matter their age or background, they have unique stories about how they got cast and/or about their time on the show that made them a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/stories-about-80s-sitcom-stars/tracey-graham" target="_blank">TV star in the 1980s</a>.

Behind-The-Scenes Stories About The Stars Of 1980s TV Dramas

16 Behind-The-Scenes Stories About The Stars Of '80s TV Shows

Combat Sports

WWE CEO Vince McMahon has been involved in the pro wrestling world&nbsp;for most of his life. With that dominance has come a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/pro-wrestling-controversies-that-outraged-fans/tracey-graham" target="_blank">number of controversies</a> involving his personal life (accusations of bullying and assault), his wrestling &quot;Mr. McMahon&quot; persona (faking his own death, taking on God&nbsp;in a tag-team match), and his business tactics (defrauding investors, distributing steroids).&nbsp;

Here are some of the controversies McMahon has been involved in since taking over his father&#39;s organization.

12 Vince McMahon Controversies That Left Pro Wrestling Fans Outraged

Television sitcoms are fond of casting famous people in guest roles. But not every guest appearance is equal - some may be &quot;blink and you miss it&quot; cameos, while others may start out as or turn into <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/one-off-tv-characters-promoted-to-series-regulars/aaron-edwards" target="_blank">recurring roles</a>, complete with a character or plot arc.&nbsp;

Some guest stars, like Brad Pitt, might be romantically involved with a cast member. Others - like <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-prince-songs/voteable" target="_blank">Prince</a> and Britney Spears - might be a fan of the sitcom and reach out to the show about their interest in being on the series. And some actors might have inspired a particular plotline. Of course, not every guest appearance goes well&nbsp;- on or off screen.

Here are&nbsp;behind-the-scenes&nbsp;stories about notable guest star appearances on sitcoms over the past 30 years. Which are the most surprising or interesting?

12 Interesting Stories About Sitcom Guest Stars We Hadn't Heard Before

Sitcom Guest Stars Talk About What It Was Like

Everyone likes a good debate. That seems to be the case <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/pop-culture-mysteries/elle-tharp" target="_blank">when it comes to pop culture</a>, anyway. And it&#39;s not a recent&nbsp;phenomenon - for example, the meaning behind &quot;Rosebud&quot; has divided moviegoers since&nbsp;Citizen Kane&nbsp;first came out&nbsp;in 1941. The debate about&nbsp;&quot;Pepsi vs. Coke&quot; has raged on for more than a century.

More recently, TV viewers have been obsessed with discovering who shot that scoundrel J.R. Ewing, or arguing about whether being on a &quot;break&quot; meant that Ross and Rachel were broken up when he hooked up&nbsp;with the woman from the copy center. And the rise of social media has helped turn things like a simple question about the color of a dress into a meme that briefly was the No. 1&nbsp;trend on Twitter worldwide.

Here are some of the more memorable pop culture debates of the past 40 years (or so) - some of which are still raging&nbsp;in 2022.

Pop Culture Questions We Definitely Argued About

Lists about real practices of witchcraft and the occult and their pointy-hatted, warty-nosed, buckle-shod, broom-ridin', high-pitched cacklin' depictions in media.

Witches Get Stitches

Fear of witches and evil spirits was commonplace&nbsp;in the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/absurd-witchcraft-accusations/olivia-pasquarelli" target="_blank">16th and 17th centuries</a>, but more than 400 years later, belief in witchcraft is still strong - a 2005 poll found that 13% of the surveyed people from Canada and the UK&nbsp;said they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/witch-trials-21st-century/print/" target="_blank">believed in witches</a>, compared to 21% of the Americans who were polled.

Over the centuries, people have tried many methods to protect themselves and their property from falling under a witch&#39;s spell. Which of the ways of warding off evil listed below are the strangest?

The Strangest Ways People Have Protected Themselves From Witchcraft

The Strangest Ways People Protected Themselves From Witchcraft

80s TV

Before Michael J. Fox was&nbsp;Back to the Future&#39;s teenaged time traveler, Tom Hanks won multiple Academy Awards for his film work, or <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-olsen-twins/anncasano?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the Olsen twins</a> established their fashion empire, they were among the actors who starred in a 1980s sitcom. Now, a conservative yuppie teen (Fox) living with his liberal, ex-hippie parents, a struggling ad man (Hanks) pretending to be a woman in order to rent affordable housing, and a toddler (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) being raised by her widowed father and his two best friends&nbsp;don&#39;t have much in common as characters. But that just underscores the diversity of sitcoms in the 1980s.

The decade was definitely big on <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-shows-about-families/ranker-tv?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">sitcoms about families</a>, both &quot;conventional&quot; and &quot;unconventional&quot;; for example, in their own way, the four best friends living together in&nbsp;The Golden Girls&nbsp;and the four best friends attending boarding school together in&nbsp;The Facts of Life&nbsp;formed their own kind of &quot;family&quot; units as much as the parent-children groups on shows like&nbsp;Family Ties, Full House,&nbsp;or&nbsp;Married... with Children&nbsp;did.&nbsp;Workplace comedies featuring ensemble casts, such as&nbsp;Cheers, Night Court, and Designing Women,&nbsp;were also big in the 1980s.

But no matter the setting of a show or the topics&nbsp;it explored, pretty much every sitcom in the 1980s likely had interesting behind-the-scenes stories. Some of those stories are explored below.

Behind-The-Scenes Stories About '80s Sitcom Stars

Behind-The-Scenes Stories About ‘80s Sitcom Stars

Historical Figures

Whether&nbsp;a simple shortening of someone&#39;s given name or a way of describing a person&#39;s personality or behavior, nicknames have been a part of cultures all over the world for centuries. And no matter whether someone is a&nbsp;historical figure&nbsp;or not, a nickname can be&nbsp;flattering or scathing, funny or serious, obvious or surprising.&nbsp;

The historical figures below were tagged with nicknames that ranged from &quot;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-roman-emperor-facts/pierce-nahigyan" target="_blank">Little Boots</a>&quot; and &quot;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-george-s-patton-facts/mallory-weiler" target="_blank">The Green Hornet</a>&quot; to &quot;The Black Swallow of Death&quot; and &quot;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/biggest-badasses-in-history/chase-christy" target="_blank">The Boneless</a>.&quot; Of the nicknames listed below, which would you prefer to be remembered by for the rest of time?

Stories Behind Historical Nicknames That Totally Surprised Us

Fun facts and wild true stories from behind the scenes of some of history's most beloved and infamous movies.

Movies in the Making

In 1987, a short documentary about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL; 1943-1954)&nbsp;aired on television, catching the attention of producer and director Penny Marshall. The documentary inspired the making of the feature film&nbsp;A League of Their Own, which became a commercial and critical hit when it was released in 1992.

Behind the scenes, the cast members trained hard to convincingly portray baseball players, even suffering&nbsp;real injuries in the process. Many of the details in the film, such as the players being sent to charm school, having chaperones, and being forced to play in skirts, are based on the real experiences of the&nbsp;AAGPBL athletes.&nbsp;

While the film project hit some stumbling blocks along the way - the original studio placed it in turnaround and several of the actors originally cast dropped out or were replaced - <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/final-film-appearances/loganrapp?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the final film</a> remains one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-most-inspirational-sports-movies" target="_blank">most entertaining and inspirational</a>&nbsp;sports movies in Hollywood history. In 2012, it was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry. And in 2020, <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/a-league-of-their-own-series-amazon-1234727631/" target="_blank">Amazon announced</a> it had picked up a TV series version of the film; the show will follow a new set of characters as they attempt to become professional baseball players.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In the film, Tom Hanks&#39;s character memorably claimed, &quot;There&#39;s no crying in baseball!&quot;&nbsp;That may or may not be true, but what&nbsp;is&nbsp;true is that the making of&nbsp;A League of Their Own sounds as fun as the finished movie.

Behind-The-Scenes Stories From ‘A League of Their Own,’ The Most Rewatchable Sports Movie

Behind The Scenes Stories From 'A League Of Their Own'

Lists about Saturday Night Live cast members, hosts, musical acts, and backstage antics of America's favorite sketch comedy series, airing from 30 Rockefeller Plaza since 1975.

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Talk Shows

Since&nbsp;Saturday Night Live&nbsp;debuted on NBC on October 11, 1975, the weekly late-night live sketch/variety show has had more than 150 cast members. Some of the actors have remained on the show for years - for instance, Kenan Thompson is the longest-tenured cast member in show history, having been with SNL for 17 seasons (2003-present).&nbsp;Others have lasted for just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-one-season-snl-cast-members/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">one season</a>,&nbsp;if that.

And when cast members do leave&nbsp;SNL, the breakup can be messy or confusing. Shane Gillis never even got to appear on an episode before public backlash over the comedian&#39;s history of offensive comments led to the show letting him go. Unlike Charles Rocket, Jenny Slate didn&#39;t get fired in the immediate aftermath of accidentally <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/every-snl-f-word/tracey-graham" target="_blank">dropping an F-bomb</a> during a&nbsp;broadcast. But when she&nbsp;did&nbsp;get fired at the end of the season, she only found out about it when she went online. Even cast members who became breakout stars on SNL have been let go.&nbsp;Adam Sandler still isn&#39;t sure why he and Chris Farley were let go following the 1995 season.

Here are some of the more unusual, confusing, or controversial reasons why&nbsp;SNL cast members have gotten fired.

Cast Members Who Were Controversially Fired From 'SNL'

The Most Controversial 'Saturday Night Live' Firings

Myths & Legends

One of many strange and <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-documentaries-about-unsolved-mysteries/ranker-film?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">unexplained mysteries of the world</a> surrounds the sudden appearance of two children (a girl and a boy) who climbed out of a wolf pit or cave just outside the English village of Woolpit sometime&nbsp;in the 12th century.&nbsp;Not only were the children literally bright green, but they also wore strange clothes&nbsp;and spoke a language no one in Woolpit understood.

This&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/x-files-in-real-life-stories/christopher-shultz" target="_blank">real-life mystery</a>, which has long been part of English folklore, has baffled and intrigued historians, folklorists, science fiction devotees, and others&nbsp;for nearly 1,000 years. There are two near-contemporary accounts of the children of Woolpit; one&nbsp;comes from William of Newburgh&#39;s Historia rerum Anglicarum,&nbsp;which was written sometime around the year&nbsp;1189, and the other is Ralph of Coggeshall&#39;s Chronicum Anglicanum,&nbsp;which was written circa&nbsp;1220. William of Newburgh, in particular, was skeptical of the tale but had heard about it from so many reputable sources that he decided he had to transcribe it. Ralph of Coggeshall, meanwhile, claimed he was told the story by the man who took the children in after they mysteriously appeared from the Woolpit cave. The two accounts have some details in common but&nbsp;differ in others.

Whether the Green Children of Woolpit ever existed is a matter of opinion. Some believe the tale&nbsp;is just folklore, a made-up incident that was handed down from generation to generation. Others believe the story is based on an actual event, but that the accounts of what happened are not accurate. Then there are those who believe the Woolpit children existed, but that they weren&#39;t human.

Here are some reports taken from the two near-contemporary accounts, along with various theories that have been posited in the hundreds of years since the mysterious appearance of the Green Children.&nbsp;

The Mysterious Green Children Of Woolpit Have Baffled Historians And Folklorists

The Millennia-Old Mystery Of The Green Children Of Woolpit

Wrestling

The world of pro wrestling is a combination of an often violent competitive sport and a kind of live theater, complete with&nbsp;characters who have sometimes over-the-top storylines meant to promote the wrestler and/or the brand. The WWE, ECW, TNA, and other pro wrestling groups have built large audiences for their products by both blurring and exaggerating the line between the real and the scripted and by turning the wrestlers into larger-than-life &quot;heroes&quot; or &quot;villains&quot; the audience can root for or against.&nbsp;

Because pro wrestling is presented as this blend of reality and scripted spectacle, it shouldn&#39;t be a surprise that the sport has received more than its share of backlash over the years. From storylines that crossed the lines of good taste to steroid scandals to faked deaths and real-life murder-suicides, here are some of the most controversial events in the history of the sport.

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